Screen Time and Homeschooling

I know this is an issue that can get heated not only among homeschoolers but parents in general. I have read a dozen articles with a dozen different suggestions and opinions. I wanted to share my opinion on this since I find that the many screens$$ in my home get a lot of attention.

I find no validity to the argument many try to make that TV, Video Games, Computer Games and other screen related activities are bad for kids. Some will argue that it shortens their attention span or once you do not set limits on screen time that is all they will want to do. My son is 3 years old and has never had any kind of screen restrictions. He has been watching TV since birth and has been playing video games since this past October when we got him a Mobigo, he has been playing computer games from different websites since early last summer.

We have Netflix and King loves watching cartoons. He has watched a little bit of everything, any cartoon you can think of he has probably watched at least one episode of it. I can't even begin to name how much he has learned from them. I do admit that cartoons today are much more educational than they were when I was little but they all have something to offer and none should be dismissed. Every episode is a new experience and a new adventure. When it comes to video games we have a PS3 and King has a Mobigo. Mobigo is a handheld video game system by V-tech. The system has educational games for ages 3-8. King loves his Mobigo he won't go anywhere without it and will usually play with it for 20-30 minutes at a time. The fact that something is holding his attention for that long is incredible and proof enough for me that screen time does not shorten attention span.I usually can't get him to pay attention to 1 thing for more than 10-15 minutes yet he can play this game for almost 30 minutes.I have found a lot of websites with educational games for King. Kings favorites are starfall.com and poissonrouge.com. We are learning French from Poissonrouge and King is learning his letters from Starfall. We also love to look for videos of watever King is interested in at the time on Youtube.

King probably accumulates about 3 hours of screen time per day. He is given a choice of what he wants to watch on TV and 9 out of 10 times it is something age appropriate and educational. Even without restrictions he chooses to play most of the day. I can't say things will be like this forever because I know as he gets older things will change and I might find myself saying " turn it off, NOW!" but right now this is working out just find for us.